Major players in the European payments industry Nexi SpA (BIT:NEXI) and Nets have entered in exclusive negotiations to reach a potential binding agreement on the terms of a merger.

The transaction, which would establish a leading, pan-European PayTech provider, remains subject to reaching a binding agreement during the 10-day exclusivity period, as well as all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals.

The principles agreed envisage a merger of Nets into Nexi as an “all-share” merger with long-term lock-up commitments provided by Nets’ current shareholders.

The potential combination would establish a leading European player in the digital payments landscape, to serve as a “one-stop-shop” to a wide range of customers. The combined company would benefit from an expanded and diversified geographic reach, broader product and services portfolio, enhanced exposure to eCommerce and lower customer concentration.

Over the past three years, under Hellman & Friedman’s ownership, Nets has undergone significant transformation and investments resulting in accelerated growth of its core business, both organically and through strategic M&A, including Concardis Payment Group, Dotpay/eCard, P24, and PeP.

Following the sale of Nets’ account-to-account business to Mastercard, which will complete prior to closing of the merger with Nexi, Nets is focused on merchant services, with a strong eCommerce exposure and proposition, and on issuing processing and innovative digital payments methods. In 2019 Nets generated revenues of about €1 billion and adjusted EBITDA of circa €0.4 billion.

Nets has a growth profile over the medium term broadly in line with the one of Nexi.